Characteristics of rice agribusiness in rural areas of Serdang Bedagai regency, North Sumatra

Abstract

This research was conducted to determine the characteristics of the rice farming system in Serdang Bedagai Regency and to recommend policies to increase the contribution of rice agribusiness to rural development. The studies carried out included the existing technology used by farmers, production, productivity, cropping index, analysis of farming system and distribution, and marketing of products. The research method used in this study is a survey method with a purposive sampling technique to 40 farmer respondents. Structured interviews were also conducted with traders, rice mill entrepreneurs, and policymakers. The data analysis used in this research is qualitative and quantitative analysis. Qualitative analysis is used to find an overview of the technology, production, productivity, cropping index, and marketing and to explain the costs and income of rice farmers which are described descriptively. The quantitative analysis used is the analysis of farm costs and income, which are the ratio of revenue and costs (R/C ratio) analysis and the cost per kg milled dry grain. The results showed that the cultivation technology used by farmers was varied, there were 23 villages whose rice productivity was still below 5 tons/h, 10 villages in 3 sub-districts had the cropping index still below 2, the R/C ratio of rice farming was 1.45, where the cost to produce 1 kg of milled dry grain in Serdang Bedagai Regency, on average are IDR 3,099. Meanwhile, the distribution and marketing of the harvest were controlled by big rice mill entrepreneurs.